


In the Frosty Air

by roseclouds



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Eve, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Ice Skating, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27848010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseclouds/pseuds/roseclouds
Summary: Lance McClain is impossible to say no to; which is probably why Keith is spending Christmas Eve humiliating himself at their local ice rink.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 104





	In the Frosty Air

It was Christmas Eve, and instead of being huddled up in front of a warm fire, Keith stood shivering in a parking lot, waiting.

Strings of lights twinkled in the distance, hanging lazily across the pop-up ice rink that was situated outside the main entrance to the nearby mall, forcing angry shoppers to find another place to park.

Since it first arrived at the mall, Lance had been dancing in excitement at the thought of visiting, but the holiday season proved to be unfairly hectic for his ice skating plans. Both Pidge and Hunk were on holiday with their families, leaving Keith to receive the text that had urged him here tonight.

The ice rink would be packing itself up and moving on tomorrow, and so in spite of himself, Keith had reluctantly agreed to thrust himself into the cold December wind and risk his entire dignity on the ice purely for Lance’s enjoyment.

“Keith!”

The other bounded towards him, not hesitating to wrap him in a hasty embrace. His gloved hands found the back of Keith’s neck, sending a shiver up his spine as they dusted softly over the exposed skin.

Lance pulled back, smiling broadly even as he clasped his hands together to keep them from freezing up. “Man, I can’t _wait_ to get back on the ice,” he said, beaming. “You ready to go?”

Keith couldn’t have been less ready to go. He’d never been ice skating before; hell, he’d never even been roller skating before. Leaving his balance in the hands of a decade-old pair of hire skates was _terrifying_ , and having those hire skates betray him and send him plummeting onto his ass in front of Lance, no less? _Mortifying_.

Still, he nodded his way towards his demise – surely it couldn’t be that hard.

It was.

Even attempting to put the skates on was proving difficult for Keith, who was quickly distracted at the sight of Lance who was now towering over him with the help of the blades beneath his feet.

He could practically feel his legs wobbling and he hadn’t even gotten up yet. Taking his sweet time to tie the laces of his second skate, Keith pondered how long he could stall by pretending he had a keen interest in sitting down, but he quickly faltered at Lance’s sudden presence inches away from his face.

He quirked a brow at the mess of laces in Keith’s hands. “You managing okay over here, buddy?”

“ _Yes_.” No.

Lance bobbed down with ease to finish lacing Keith’s skates for him. “You have them way too loose, man. It's like you _want_ to fall over or something.”

Or something, preferably. Still, no matter how tightly Lance managed to tie them, Keith was still sure his ass would be doomed to meet the icy floor at some point.

“So, are you more of an ice hockey kind of guy,” Lance quizzed, “or are you gonna surprise me with some triple axel spins out there?” There was a lingering smirk on his lips.

“I...” He was expected to _spin?_ “Yeah, uh, totally,” he said, opting to ignore the crack in his voice. God, he was about a second away from outing himself as an ice-virgin.

Lance lifted himself back up with a hearty laugh, seemingly satisfied with his quick lacework and the growing blush on Keith’s cheeks. “Alright, come on, grandma,” he said finally, offering an arm for Keith to take.

Keith snapped his previously agape mouth shut. “I can get up myself.”

“Uh-huh,” Lance hummed, “you probably can with your walking stick, but I’m not waiting forty-seven years for that to happen.”

Keith grumbled to himself, averting his eyes from the outheld arm that spread his already prominent flush down the length of his neck.

“Come on, dude,” Lance said, “it’s pretty obvious it’s your first time, so let go of your pride for a second and let me hold you.”

“I don’t—” Keith huffed. It wasn’t as though he was going anywhere on his own, and settling for this sounded a bright side better than sliding all over the ice. “ _Fine_.”

He snatched the hand out in front of him, pulling himself up impulsively fast and stumbling right back down onto the bench.

Lance barely repressed a snigger. “Cool your jets, Keith,” he said, chuckling and steadying Keith with his other hand. “Here.”

He hoisted Keith slowly up by his elbows, most definitely noting the way Keith’s knees immediately buckled inwards as he found himself entirely too wobbly for his own liking.

Lance grinned. “This is the _easy_ part, hotshot, we’re not even on the ice yet.”

Keith stomached the urge to smush his hand into Lance’s face – he wasn’t losing the only form of support he had, even if it was embarrassing to be clinging to Lance as firmly as he was.

Lance watched him expectantly, looking between Keith’s eyes and his skates.

Keith scowled, meeting Lance’s eyes with feigned confidence. “I don’t know how to move,” he admitted.

Lance pursed his lips together to stop himself from laughing again at Keith’s expense. “For now, just _walk._ "

Right.

Keith was less than graceful, taking strangely raised steps towards his destination, but it wasn’t too much of an effort to get from the safety of the bench to the railing of the rink without the slipperiness of the ice hindering his movements.

“Now, you _could_ hold onto the railing like a baby,” Lance began, nodding towards a group of young children who were doing just that, “or, you can hold onto me and join the big boys in the center,” he said with a waggle of his brows.

Keith glared at his support, then released a deep sigh. He supposed he would have to settle for the oncoming barrage of digs, too. “Just help me on, idiot.”

Lance bit back a grin and stepped onto the rink, turning so that they were facing each other. Great, as if his ice prowess wasn't already intimidating, he was also going to show off and skate backwards.

He pulled Keith gently onto the ice, taking care to hold him at the small of his back while his other hand clasped tightly onto Keith’s.

“Alright, now you want to glide,” Lance instructed simply, as though Keith had any idea what that meant. “Like this,” he said, demonstrating the movement on the spot. “Push yourself gently forwards, and make sure you pick up your feet a little at the end of each glide.”

If Keith had never experienced the instability of a newborn giraffe, he had now. His legs flayed apart the moment he moved from his stationary position, skidding on the ice as his body fell backwards, only barely caught by Lance’s quick embrace.

“Woah, woah, keep your weight forward,” Lance said, inching his hand up Keith’s back to prop him back up. If the ice wasn’t enough to get Keith’s legs trembling, that certainly did it.

At this point, Keith was convinced he could have left his jacket at home, because the heat that shot through him at Lance’s touch was already making his forehead sweat against his bangs. Whatever. He could blame that and the rosy tint on his cheeks on the cold, right?

Pushing off slowly this time, he intertwined his fingers with Lance’s even as the thickness of their woolly gloves insisted that he didn’t. He half-expected a snarky comment, but Lance only tightened his own grip.

“That’s it!” He cried triumphantly. “That was good, Keith!”

By ‘good’ he assumed Lance had meant that it was impressive that Keith hadn’t tumbled over this time, but regardless, Keith kept a growing smile to himself as he found his balance.

“Now let’s see if you can overtake these third graders,” Lance mused, immediately receiving a light smack to the gut that wildly unbalanced Keith and forced him into a humiliating dance before sending him crashing down onto the horribly icy ground beneath him.

And Lance _laughed_ , really laughed, snorting even as he carefully picked Keith back up onto his feet and kindly ignored the way that Keith was sporting more of a soft gaze than the glare he had intended.

“That was really something,” Lance managed through light giggles, allowing his hands to stray from Keith’s for a moment to brush frosted shavings from Keith’s now wet jeans. “Are you gonna call the Olympic scouting team, or should I?”

If anyone was getting scouted for the Olympics, it was Lance. That boy could perform a perfect triple-apple-whatever right here in the parking lot of their local mall and Keith wouldn’t even be surprised.

Ignoring the little girl who passed Keith with an obnoxious twirl and resisting the urge to send another swat to Lance’s stomach, Keith flicked stray hairs from his eyes with a shake of his head. “Would you just shut it and hold my damn hand?”

Lance narrowed his eyes, but his lips were stretched into a warm smile. “Pushy,” he said, linking their hands back together. “Better?”

Keith gave him a curt nod, pulling all his focus onto the ice they were ever so slowly moving across. Whether he appreciated the close contact for the safety or the fluttering feeling that Keith had grown acquainted with over the course of their friendship was irrelevant.

He was painfully aware that they looked the like the town’s newest couple on their first date, leaning close to each other, foreheads almost touching as Lance guided Keith forwards with little bouts of encouragement; but truthfully, he didn’t mind one bit.

“You know,” Lance said in a hushed voice, watching Keith’s slowly improving movements, “I think you might actually be getting the hang of this.”

“Just—” Keith wavered at the comment. “Don’t let go yet,” he muttered.

“Enjoying my company that much, huh?” Lance teased.

_Yes._

The music that crackled out of the twenty-something-year-old sound system grew softer as night really set in. Most families had left by now, only a few couples and friends remaining on the rink.

"Oh _man_ ," Lance breathed as they dropped their speed, "lugging you around has me _spent_."

"Who's the grandma now?" Keith snickered under his breath.

"Oh, don't you even,” Lance warned, “I could drop you right here, right now."

As if to prove his point, Lance took his hand off Keith's back and moved up ahead of him, leaving about a foot between them and forcing Keith to stumble around until he managed to clutch onto the barrier.

Lance offered a smug applause. " _Very_ smooth, Kogane."

“Get back here and help me off,” Keith said, “dealing with you all night has me spent, too.”

Lance gave a mock gasp but held out a helping hand to Keith, who took it quickly and let the other lead him back onto dry ground.

“Here, take a seat and unlace,” Lance instructed. “I’ll get us some water.”

Keith released a shaky breath as he settled onto the closest bench. His heartbeat was rattling against his chest and he had barely moved beyond a power walk (or skate) since they'd been out on the rink. In hindsight, Keith was exceptionally thankful for the fact that Pidge and Hunk hadn’t been available tonight; otherwise, he may very well have been teased out of existence a good twenty minutes ago.

Lance returned with two paper cups, handing one off to Keith who gulped it readily and set it down beside him.

“We should do this again sometime,” Lance said as he took a seat next to Keith. “I bet with another hour or two of lessons from yours truly, you’ll be whizzing and leaping all over the place.” There was an air of sarcasm to his voice, but Keith only laughed, tucking his hands between his thighs to stop them from so obviously shaking.

He met Lance’s eyes with a sheepish smile. “I’d like that.” And _god_ , his voice came out so sickeningly sweet that it almost made him cringe.

Lance seemed to take in every feature of Keith’s embarrassing expression before turning his head away the moment a smile crept onto his lips.

“Yeah,” he agreed with a nod, turning back to Keith with a beautifully infuriating smirk. “I mean, I suppose you’re not the _most_ insufferable student I’ve had.”

Keith nudged him in the ribs, relishing in the little yelp he earned in response.

He began to ramble about how Keith should ‘be thanking him’ and how he would ‘pay for that one,’ but Keith had almost entirely tuned out of his exaggerated monologue.

There was a light pink coloring to Lance’s cheeks and the tip of his nose, and Keith was fighting an incredible urge to fix the tiny flick of hair that was sitting across Lance’s eyebrow.

And then, he wasn’t sure what overcame him.

His hand grazed over Lance’s jaw, startling the other into silence.

Whatever Lance had been saying about attacking Keith with his expertly made snowballs or something of the like was now caught in his throat as he gazed, stunned, into Keith’s eyes; and Keith couldn’t settle anymore.

He smoothed his thumb over Lance’s skin, entranced by the way the boy’s blush grew at his touch. Then, leaning forward, he took in the subtle scent of peaches and strawberries before letting his lips press softly against the other’s.

It was chaste, yet fulfilling; so unimaginably fulfilling for Keith, who could only bring himself to lean back an inch or two, still wrapped up in all the warmth and sweetness that Lance carried with him.

For a moment, Keith wondered whether the icy wind had frozen Lance in place, but his lips released a heavy breath a moment later, his eyes wide with the surprise Keith should have seen coming.

 _What the hell was he thinking?_ Shiro wouldn’t be picking him up for at least another twenty minutes. Did he really expect to be able to survive an agonizing twenty minutes of rejection and disgust and—

Lance’s lips found his again quickly, pressing into them with purpose and engulfing Keith with that overwhelming scent that made his entire brain turn to water. He brought his hands up to cup Keith’s face, cooling his hot cheeks and making them burn up all at the same time.

As he pulled back ever so slightly, Keith could hardly ignore the way the lights around them looked so naturally a part of Lance's eyes. He was smiling back at Keith in a charming daze, laughing softly as his fingers moved to sweep Keith's hair back behind his ears, making his skin break out in pleasant tingles.

They each shuffled closer, sporting sheepish grins as they allowed their foreheads to fall against each other with a gentle thud.

“Merry Christmas, Keith.” His voice was barely a whisper, tickling against Keith's nose.

"Merry Christmas, Lance."


End file.
